Saturday, January 3, 2009

2008 Training Review

I know that intensity matters a bit more than duration in my training, but it is a lot easier to measure duration. So here is a quick look at how 2008 compared to past years ... and how it went from month to month.

Here are my total training hours for each of the last four years, broken down by sport. "Other" includes lifting, core strength and miscellaneous cardio (like elliptical when injured, or the occasional pick-up football/basketball game or brisk hike or cross-country ski excursion).

Year

Swim

Bike

Run

Other

Total

2005

105.6

457.8

82.3

53.7

699.3

2006

152.2

401.0

140.7

54.4

748.3

2007

184.6

327.4

158.9

94.5

765.4

2008

211.9

362.6

173.9

51.5

799.9

A few observations:

Clearly I didn't look at these numbers before 12/31/08 or I would have done an extra 6 minutes of *something* and gotten over 800 hours.

I had a lot more "other" in 2007 than in other years, mainly because of two running injuries that gave me a lot of rehab to do.

I'm glad to see that Swim, Bike and Run volume all increased from '07 to '08. The Boulder trip probably helped a lot. More on this later.

The total hours haven't gone up very much as I went from Age Grouper in '05 to rookie elite in '06 to mid-level elite in '08.

800 hours in 366 days averages out to a touch over 2hrs 11min each day. By comparison, 700 hours in 365 days in 2005 meant 1hr 55min each day.